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A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewRaving
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"I'm talking about parenthood Keith: a six lane highway of psychological carnage!"
— Briony
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Robert Webb as Ross and Sarah Hadland as Rosy (Photo: Manuel Harlan) |
Stranded without mobile phone reception, Briony is very anxious as well as having swollen, overflowing breasts. Instead of a popular couple they were looking forward to seeing, they are joined by know it all, the very confident Serena (Issy van Randwyck) and her gung ho, ex army organiser husband and crack shot Charles (Nicholas Rowe).
The play starts on a fairly manic note with Briony's raised maternal anxiety in not being able to talk to her three year old and Keith's trying to calm her. Serena is very upper class and rather horsey. Ross and Rosy arrive and share the tale of the blackmailing nanny who has claimed to have had an affair with Ross which Rosy disbelieves and is very calm and rational about. Ross and Rosy occupy the higher moral ground as they explain their child rearing philosophy and their absolute trust in each other.
At the end of the first act they are unexpectedly joined by Serena's niece, teenager Tabby (Bel Powley) in a very short skirt and who despite her privileged upbringing speaks in a mix of gangsta speak and something else I couldn't identify. Suffice it to say, most of what she says needs a translator or at the very least surtitles.
Tabby is determined to join in a local Welsh rave and to have as many sexual experiences as she can over the weekend. In a hysterical scene, Ross, the object of Tabby's seduction, ends up with a bread knife stuck in his foot. Add the incensed landlord, the Welsh farmer Mr Morgan (Ifan Huw Dafydd) who was assured that this weekend of Londoners was a Christian retreat, a bottle of expressed breast milk when the pasteurised stuff is in short supply and you have the makings of a farce.
Jonathan Fenson's set is a functional country kitchen. The performances are lovely especially from the hapless Ross, a brilliant Robert Webb, way out of his depth despite appearances. I liked too Issy van Randwyck's caricature of the zany Serena and Nicholas Rowe's resourceful chap with an army background. Of course the characters are exaggerated but Raving is great fun whilst not really making a more serious point about the competition that is parenthood.
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| Raving
Written by Simon Paisley Day Directed by Edward Hall Starring: Tamzin Outhwaite, Barnaby Kay, Issy van Randwyck, Nicholas Rowe, Bel Powley, Sarah Hadland, Robert Webb, Ifan Huw Dafydd Designed by Jonathan Fensom, Composer: Simon Slater Lighting: Rick Fisher Sound: Matt Mackenzie Running time: Two hours 15 minutes with one interval Box Office: 020 7722 9301 Booking to 23rd November 2013 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 24th October 2013 performance at the Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, London NW3 3EU(Tube: Swiss Cottage) |
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